There are so many exciting destinations and experiences in the world. Why limit yourself to just one category?
When it comes to incentive travel, alternating travel destinations can make all the difference in keeping your top performers engaged and eager to qualify year after year. Our repeat clients typically request differing locations for each travel incentive they book. By alternating your incentive travel destinations and experiences, you will ensure an exciting and elevated incentive travel program year after year.
Engage:
Your top performers, clients, or business partners that you incentivize with a travel incentive program all have different preferences. So how do you know the best way to engage your participants? What motivates one person may not motivate the next, so diversifying the destination and experiences offered from year to year is important for designing a successful incentive program. One surefire way to keep your attendees engaged year after year is to offer a wide array of destinations and experiences.
- Cold vs. Warm Destinations: Some participants may prefer a snowy mountain retreat, while others might crave a sunny beach escape.
- Domestic vs. International: Offering both domestic and international options can cater to those who prefer to stay closer to home as well as those who seek adventure abroad.
- Ocean vs. River Cruises: An ocean cruise provides a vast, open-sea experience, whereas a river cruise offers intimate, scenic journeys through cities and countryside.
- Long Flight vs. Short Flight: Attendees don’t want to travel long hours on a plane year after year. Mixing up destinations based on flight time is a key component for decision-makers to consider.
By engaging your audience with a variety of options, you can keep the incentive travel experience exciting, inclusive, and engaging for everyone.
Experience:
The top performers who qualify annually likely don’t want to visit the same destination or have the same experiences every year. Offering the same type of experience yearly, such as a catamaran sailing excursion, may result in decreased engagement from your attendees. Research from IRF on Attendee Preferences shows that one of the primary motivators for incentive travel is the unique experiences offered at the destination.
Different destinations offer new and interesting experiences that your attendees will be eager to dive into. Statistics show that 81% of participants want to experience something they could not or would not do on their own. With that said, at Sutton Planning, we consistently think outside the box, offering unique experiences that we know participants will remember for years to come. For example, in Costa Rica, we can plan for your group to cruise through the jungle and sample local rums. In Napa Valley, we arrange exquisite wine tastings and one-of-a-kind vineyard dinners. In Turks & Caicos, we can organize a gorgeous catamaran sailing excursion complete with hors d’oeuvre and snorkeling with vibrant marine life. With something new to look forward to every year, you’re bound to produce a significant ROI on your travel incentives and corporate retreats.
Elevate:
Perhaps the most important reason to alternate incentive travel destinations is to elevate your program. Offering different, dynamic destination and experience options sets you and your company apart from the rest. When you constantly change the incentive travel destinations, it keeps the program fresh and exciting for participants. People are more likely to be motivated and engaged when they have the chance to experience new and diverse locations. This approach also allows you to cater to different preferences and interests, ensuring that there’s something for everyone. When you partner with Sutton Planning, you can expect our team to provide data and insights on trending destinations and resorts for incentives, meetings, and retreats, making your decision-making process for selecting the next destination much easier.
Partnering with an incentive planning company with over thirty years of experience can take your travel incentive program from “ordinary” to “extraordinary”. Are you ready to explore the possibilities? Contact us today to get started!